The raging craze for big wheels

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: Forget the flaring oil prices, sport utility vehicles (SUVs) are here to stay. Why not? After all, it’s not mileage but the sporty feel and the style statement that drive the sale of these fuel guzzlers.

Be it Ford Endeavour, Honda CR-V, Chevrolet Captiva, Maruti Grand Vitara, Tata Safari, Mitsubishi Pajero or Toyota Prado, all are competing for a larger space in the SUV segment, with a pricing that spans Rs 12 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. This segment still has significant volumes, thanks to the comparatively low prices vis-à-vis big luxury sedans for car enthusiasts who crave for a macho ride.

These bigger wheels, says the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam), sell on an average 10,000 units a month. Sales are only rising. Off-season August saw sales of 9,953 units compared to 9,453 units a year ago, a growth of 5.3%.

But the market is ready for more expensive utility vehicles, going by the pick-up in the sales of high-priced status symbols. Luxury carmakers like BMW India, Audi India and Volkswagen India are gung-ho on India.

So, we have BMW X5, Audi Q7 and Volkswagen Touareg, priced above Rs 40 lakh. Though independent sales figures for Audi Q7 and Volkswagen Touareg are not available, BMW sold 27 units of X3 and X5 in August alone against just four a year ago. This is a growth of over 500%.

And companies have taken note of the buyers’ mood change. “There has been a spurt in demand for sport utility vehicles in the country. So, it makes more sense for us to put the SUV segment on our priority list over the high-end luxury car segment where volumes are far smaller,” says Ankush Arora, vice-president (sales & marketing), General Motors India.

GM India, Ford India, Hindustan Motors and others have been very aggressive in their product line up in the segment. GM India’s Chevrolet Captive, launched in January, has helped the company widen its SUV portfolio. And to make it popular model Tavera more competitive, the company had recently launched a facelift version, called the Tavera Neo-2.

Sales of Tavera and Captive went up by 45.2% in August to 932 units from 642 units in the same month last year.